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1166631

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Employment Schemes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are participating in (a) the Work Programme and (b) Work Choice; and on what date the final participants will complete those programmes.
tabling member constituency	Wirral West
tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
uin	6405
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>Statistics on the Work Programme, including information on starts, referrals and job outcomes is published and available here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-programme-statistics--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-programme-statistics--2</a></p><p> </p><p>Statistics on the Work Choice programme, including information on starts, referrals and job outcomes is published and available here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-choice-statistics-number-of-starts-and-referrals--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/work-choice-statistics-number-of-starts-and-referrals--2</a></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 31/10/2019 17:46:47 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1166712

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available to parents who are returning to work from parental leave who have to pay childcare costs upfront and get reimbursed in arrears under universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Scunthorpe
tabling member printed	Nic Dakin
uin	6354
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting parents with moving into work and, as part of this, we increased the level of support for childcare costs from 70 per cent in legacy benefits to up to 85 per cent in Universal Credit (UC). The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>Beyond the UC childcare element, claimants can be considered for two additional methods of funding childcare costs: the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) and Budgeting Advances.</p><p> </p><p>Work Coaches can support individual claimants with barriers that may prevent them from moving into employment. Each case is considered carefully on its own merits with financial help available to eligible claimants in advance for childcare. Where agreed, FSF will pay 100% of the upfront childcare costs up to the payment limits set that the claimant incurs between starting work and receiving their first wage.</p><p> </p><p>A budgeting advance is available for one-off urgent financial events for eligible UC claimants, such as upfront childcare, and is repayable over a period of up to 12 monthly instalments. Only one Budgeting Advance will be paid at a time and further advances will be unavailable until the balance of the previous Budgeting Advance is cleared.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 6355 question first answered 31/10/2019 17:41:48 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin

1166713

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to provide the childcare element of universal credit to eligible parents before they pay high childcare costs without any support; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Scunthorpe
tabling member printed	Nic Dakin
uin	6355
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting parents with moving into work and, as part of this, we increased the level of support for childcare costs from 70 per cent in legacy benefits to up to 85 per cent in Universal Credit (UC). The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare and UC claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and UC childcare costs in conjunction with each other for relevant hours. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.</p><p> </p><p>Beyond the UC childcare element, claimants can be considered for two additional methods of funding childcare costs: the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) and Budgeting Advances.</p><p> </p><p>Work Coaches can support individual claimants with barriers that may prevent them from moving into employment. Each case is considered carefully on its own merits with financial help available to eligible claimants in advance for childcare. Where agreed, FSF will pay 100% of the upfront childcare costs up to the payment limits set that the claimant incurs between starting work and receiving their first wage.</p><p> </p><p>A budgeting advance is available for one-off urgent financial events for eligible UC claimants, such as upfront childcare, and is repayable over a period of up to 12 monthly instalments. Only one Budgeting Advance will be paid at a time and further advances will be unavailable until the balance of the previous Budgeting Advance is cleared.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 6354 question first answered 31/10/2019 17:41:48 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4056 label Biography information for Nic Dakin

1166748

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Oil Rigs: North Sea
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has discussed with the Health and Safety Executive the evacuation of all workers from the Thistle oil platform to the Dunlin Alpha platform in the North Sea on 21 October 2019; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	6370
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive is currently investigating the reasons for the evacuation of the Thistle oil platform. While the investigation is on-going it would be inappropriate to comment further.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:30:22 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1166750

registered interest
date	28/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Oil Rigs: North Sea
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive has provided guidance or advice to EnQuest on conducting preliminary safety inspection of subsea structures of their North Sea assets in the last six months.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	6372
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2019 answer text <p>The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) last planned inspection of EnQuest’s management of the safety of its subsea structures was in December 2018. Following that inspection, HSE had planned an inspection in November 2019 to evaluate the progress EnQuest had made with its subsea structural analyses and monitoring arrangements. However, this has been postponed as HSE is currently investigating the reasons for the evacuation of EnQuest’s Thistle installation. The investigation findings will inform HSE’s future inspections with EnQuest.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 04/11/2019 16:45:14 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1156380

registered interest
date	25/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Maternity Allowance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October to Question 2694 on Maternity Allowance, on what date her Department's messaging changed; and what the estimated number of days was in relation to that change.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	5404
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>From 15 October 19 all Enquiry Line greeting messages, Gov.uk and SMS messages were aligned to notify customers that the working day turn around for MA claims was 70 days. This estimate reflected potential concerns that processing times could increase still further – which did not ultimately prove to be the case. In light of this we are reviewing our messaging to ensure our actual processing times are correctly reflected.</p><p>SMS texts only go to those customers that provide mobile contact numbers and are automated from the mail opening unit on receipt of the claim form.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 31/10/2019 17:41:06 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies previous answer version 2850 answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1156130

registered interest
date	24/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how his Department defines what a reasonable chance of collection is before deciding to write-off arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency.
tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
tabling member printed	Martyn Day
uin	5054
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Where a receiving parent makes representations for the arrears to be collected, the Service will make every effort to trace the paying parent associated with the case and verify the arrears. The paying parent will also be given an opportunity to make representations as part of the process. Once the debt is moved to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) it will exhaust all available collection methods available in an attempt to secure a payment.</p><p> </p><p>Some of the collection options available to the CMS include imposing a deduction from earnings order and lump sum deduction orders. If all attempts are unsuccessful the debt may then be deemed uncollectable and write-off considered.</p><p /><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 16:40:36 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1156131

registered interest
date	24/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of receiving parent's arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency that were written off while a Deduction from Earnings Order was in place.
tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
tabling member printed	Martyn Day
uin	5055
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Only cases with CSA debt that haven’t made payments for the last three months are in scope for selection as part of the Compliance &amp; Arrears Strategy. Cases with a paying Deduction from Earnings Order in Place will not be selected.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 29/10/2019 16:45:29 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1156132

registered interest
date	24/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason receiving parents were not compensated for the decision to write-off arrears for money they were owed which accrued under the Child Support Agency.
tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
tabling member printed	Martyn Day
uin	5056
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Writing off some historic Child Support Agency (CSA) arrears was not a quick or easy decision, and involved exhausting other approaches to deal with the debt, including using debt collection agencies without success. Much of the debt that accrued under the CSA is now old and generally uncollectable, and most parents accept this.</p><p> </p><p>It is a long-established principle of the child maintenance system that where non-resident parents do not pay the maintenance they are legally required to pay, the obligation on the government is to do its best to ensure collection – not for the taxpayer to pay the maintenance.</p><p> </p><p>We are making one last attempt to collect the debt, where it is cost effective to do so and there is a reasonable chance of collection. Debts of smaller amounts may be written off as part of the process.</p><p> </p><p>Attempting to collect would have cost around £1.5bn, and would have recovered between £0.1bn and £0.6bn. Had we not written off we would have needed to maintain the debt indefinitely at a cost of £30 million per year.</p><p> </p><p>Addressing these cases will enable us to close the CSA completely and focus on collecting money that will benefit today’s children, and avoid the build-up of arrears in the Child Maintenance Service.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 5057 question first answered 29/10/2019 16:49:20 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1156133

registered interest
date	24/10/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recourse is available to receiving parents whose arrears accrued under the Child Support Agency have been written off.
tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
tabling member printed	Martyn Day
uin	5057
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Writing off some historic Child Support Agency (CSA) arrears was not a quick or easy decision, and involved exhausting other approaches to deal with the debt, including using debt collection agencies without success. Much of the debt that accrued under the CSA is now old and generally uncollectable, and most parents accept this.</p><p> </p><p>It is a long-established principle of the child maintenance system that where non-resident parents do not pay the maintenance they are legally required to pay, the obligation on the government is to do its best to ensure collection – not for the taxpayer to pay the maintenance.</p><p> </p><p>We are making one last attempt to collect the debt, where it is cost effective to do so and there is a reasonable chance of collection. Debts of smaller amounts may be written off as part of the process.</p><p> </p><p>Attempting to collect would have cost around £1.5bn, and would have recovered between £0.1bn and £0.6bn. Had we not written off we would have needed to maintain the debt indefinitely at a cost of £30 million per year.</p><p> </p><p>Addressing these cases will enable us to close the CSA completely and focus on collecting money that will benefit today’s children, and avoid the build-up of arrears in the Child Maintenance Service.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 5056 question first answered 29/10/2019 16:49:20 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day